Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, is best suited to be the next president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, according to an opinion poll by Jiji Press released Thursday.

Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, 64, came second in the survey.

Koizumi was favored by 23.8% of respondents, while 21.0% backed Takaichi. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, 64, and former party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi, 69, tied for third place with 5.9%.

The poll held Friday through Monday asked respondents to pick one candidate from those in the previous LDP presidential election held in September 2024, except Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

The survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews with 2,000 people age 18 and over nationwide. Valid responses came from 58.1% of those surveyed.

As for measures against rising prices, 73.8% of respondents said they favor tax cuts. A consumption tax reduction was the most favored measure to counter inflation, chosen by 45.8%, followed by income tax and resident tax cuts, selected by 28.0%, according to the survey.

Cash handouts were favored by 15.4% of the respondents, while 4.5% said there was no need to take any measure against inflation.

The ruling LDP's coalition partner, Komeito, pledged to implement cash handouts in their respective policy promises for the July 20 Upper House election.

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and other opposition parties vowed to implement tax cuts in their respective campaign pledges for the election.

Measures against inflation are expected to become one of the key issues during the upcoming extraordinary parliament session this autumn.